Armenian Church loses first round to Pashinyan

After Saturday's ridiculous protest rally in support of Samvel Karapetyan, Nikol Pashinyan may consider that he has won the first round of the bruising with the opposition. The Armenian Prime minister may feel even more confident. Which he does.

Pashinyan sent a message to Catholicos Garegin via social media, making it clear that they would come for him soon.

"If Ktrich Nersesyan considers the detention of Vazgen Galstanyan and Gevorg Ajapakhyan illegal, then he shares the ideology and plans of the above-mentioned individuals to carry out a military coup, shoot people under the walls and create chaos in the country. Moreover, in this case, not a single territory of the extended Vagharshapat community can be closed to the activities of law enforcement agencies, especially since, thanks to Ktrich and several other persons, these territories are not closed to adultery," Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page.

There cannot be two interpretations of this post. The Prime Minister warns the head of Echmiadzin that law enforcement agencies will soon knock on his door again. At the end of June, they were, figuratively speaking, not opened. The priests blocked the gates with a crowd and resisted the police.  The police did not drag the clergy by their robes, but retreated. Nevertheless, the church was unable to hide Archbishop Ajapakhyan from the secular authorities, who has now joined the unsuccessful leader of the "rebels" Srbazan - Vazgen Galstanyan in the pre-trial detention center.

Pashinyan's post followed the statement made by Etchmiadzin. Let's omit the flowery phrases about serving the Lord, the apostles, and so on. This "lyrical" part of the message is intended for the ears of the flock, not the politicians.

In essence, the message reads as follows: the Armenian Apostolic Church is terribly outraged by such an attitude towards sacred persons, and the actions of the government and personally Nikol Pashinyan are "a catastrophic blow to the Armenian people and the Armenian statehood, especially in the context of the existential challenges unfolding around Armenia."

Etchmiadzin stood up not only for the churchmen, but also for the "national benefactor" Samvel Karapetyan. The Armenian Apostolic Church considers the detention of Galstanyan and Ajapakhyan illegal, and "the encroachments of the authorities, as well as anyone else, on the patriarchal throne and the canonical principles of the church" to be an unprecedented outrage.

The only thing that cannot be found fault with is the statement that the Armenian Apostolic Church "is a pillar of Armenian identity and statehood." Unfortunately, this is true, and this is all the problems that have befallen the Armenian people over the past two hundred years.

Nikol Pashinyan is acting gradually. And the ultimate goal, apparently, is Garegin himself.

In early July, at an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly, during the discussion of a package of draft laws on amendments to the law "On the Administrative-Territorial Division of the Republic of Armenia" and amendments to related laws, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures David Khudatyan announced the decision to consolidate the Vagharshapat community.

This decision is directly related to the patrimony of Garegin II. Etchmiadzin is a part of the Vagharshapat community. Vagharshapat is a city in the Armavir region, called Etchmiadzin after the cathedral located there. The residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians is located in Vagharshapat Etchmiadzin.

According to the draft amendments to the law, the fortified community will include the Vagharshapati community and the Khoi community with its 19 settlements. Elections of new self-governing bodies of the fortified community will be held in November. According to the minister, this step is aimed at improving the efficiency of local government and is part of the process of administrative and territorial reforms. The opposition is confident that in this way Pashinyan expects to bring his people to power in Vagharshapat and get closer to the holy of holies.

Nikol Pashinyan is not just approaching Garegin's bid for administrative reforms, but also directly demanding his re-election. In response to the opposition's demands for early parliamentary elections, he stated that "early elections must definitely take place. But the early elections of the Catholicos of All Armenians."

Pashinyan cannot arrange the election of the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church using an administrative resource, since according to the country's constitution, the church exists separately and the state has no right to interfere in its affairs. It is possible to resolve this problem only by making amendments to the constitution, which the Government will probably try to do during the constitutional referendum. It is no coincidence that Speaker Alain Simonyan hinted very transparently that the relationship between church and state will be reviewed as part of the upcoming constitutional reforms.

In light of the events of recent years, Etchmiadzin can no longer treat such a prospect with a grin. The fact that after a catastrophic defeat in the war, Nikol Pashinyan remained in office, having received the support of the majority of voters, made his opponents nervous. Attempts in subsequent years to raise the masses against him were unsuccessful. The organized "exodus" of Armenians from Karabakh did not help either. Instead of rising up against the Prime Minister, society rose up against the aliens, greatly baffling the revanchist opposition. The revanchists do not want to recognize the reality in which a significant part of the Armenian society no longer wants to follow the same path that led Armenia nowhere.

They don't want to admit it, but they understand. Garegin II also understands. The events of June, which continue today, have made the AAC worried.

Many are surprised not even by Pashinyan's courage in the conflict with the Armenian Apostolic Church, but by the impotence of the church. No one expected that Ktrich Nersesyan (Garegin's worldly name) would have so few tools to counteract the authorities. Not legal ones, of course, but hybrid ones. The Armenian Church seemed like an impregnable fortress, holding the reins of government of Armenia and the Armenian nation as a whole. It was believed that those who encroached on her interests would not even have time to go to hell, because they would necessarily be quartered by the fanatical masses. But it turned out that this was just another myth. The Armenian Apostolic Church is not at all as omnipotent as it was thought, and it does not have as much influence on the minds of Armenian society as it was believed.

The so-called Armenian Apostolic Church has always defined the ideology of the Armenians. An unhealthy sense of racial superiority and claims against others were introduced into the mentality of the Armenian people under her strict guidance. All the crimes committed by Armenian nationalists over the past two hundred years were conceived, approved and blessed by the church.

Pashinyan showed the Armenians that the church is not omnipotent and that Etchmiadzin has weaknesses. First of all, she herself does not observe the commandments and requirements imposed on the clergy. It has long been known that corruption and sexual perversion reign outside the walls of Etchmiadzin, but this has so far been discussed only at the media level. Perhaps this topic would not have become a topic of discussion at the highest level if Galstanyan had not provoked Nikol Pashinyan with insulting interference in his relationship with his common-law wife. Contrary to expectations, Pashinyan did not blush and justify himself, but rushed into battle, immediately throwing buckets of slop on the church. All this, apparently, had already been prepared for battle, and the prime minister was just waiting for an excuse.

There are a lot of fans for this match. And we will not hide that Azerbaijan benefits from Pashinyan's victory. If the church manages to crush him with the hands of the zombie masses, it will mean the coming to power of revanchist forces and, consequently, another destabilization in the region. We will also not hide the fact that Azerbaijan will try to take preventive measures in the event of such threats. We will not go into details. Let's just say that Baku will not talk to scoundrels like Robert Kocharian or Serzh Sargsyan. This stage in our history has already been passed.